After Cruizing Off And On Here For About
Five-Days, We One Sunday Espied A Portuguese Ship Of 250 Tons, From
Negapatnam, A Town On The Main-Land Of India, Opposite The Northern End
Of Ceylon, Laden With Rice For Malacca, And Took Her That Night.
Captain
Lancaster ordered her captain and master on board our ship, and sent me,
Edmund Barker, his lieutenant, with seven men, to take charge of the
prize.
We came to anchor in thirty fathoms, as in all that channel there
is good anchorage three or four leagues from shore.
While thus at anchor, and keeping out a light for the Edward, another
Portuguese ship of 400 tons, belonging to San Thome, came to anchor hard
by us. The Edward had fallen to leeward, for want of a sufficient number
of men to handle her sails, and was not able next morning to fetch up to
this other ship, until we who were in the prize went in our boat to help
her. We then made sail towards the ship of San Thome: but our ship was
so foul that she escaped us. We then took out of our prize what we
thought might be useful to us, after which we liberated her with all her
men, except a pilot and four Moors, whom we detained to assist in
navigating the Edward. We continued to cruize here till the 6th of
October, at which time we met the galeon of the captain of Malacca, a
ship of 700 tons, coming from Goa. After shooting at her many times, we
at length shot through her main-yard, on which she came to anchor and
surrendered. We then commanded the captain, master, pilot, and purser to
come on board our ship; but only the captain came, accompanied by one
soldier, saying that the others would not come, unless sent for; but
having got to some distance from us in the evening, all the people of
the ship, to the number of about 300, men, women, and children, got on
shore in two great boats, and we saw no more of them.
When we came on board, we found she was armed with sixteen brass cannon.
She had 300 butts of wine, Canary, Nipar wine, which is made of the
palm-trees, and raisin-wine, which is very strong. She had likewise an
assortment of all kind of haberdashery wares; as hats, red caps, knit of
Spanish wool, knit worsted stockings, shoes, velvets, camblets, and
silks; abundance of surkets, (sweet-meats,) rice, Venice glasses,
papers full of false and counterfeit stones, brought from Venice by an
Italian, wherewith to deceive the rude Indians, abundance of playing
cards, two or three bales of French paper, and sundry other things. What
became of the treasure usually brought in this vessel, in ryals of
plate, we could not learn. After the mariners had pillaged this rich
ship in a disorderly manner, as they refused to unlade the excellent
wines into the Edward, Captain Lancaster abandoned the prize, letting
her drive at sea, after taking out of her the choicest of her goods.
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